Rubber.



No. 879,306. .PATENTED FEB. 13, 1908.

H. OSULLIVAN.

RUBBER.

APPLICATION FILED KAY 15,1900.

m: Numzls PETERS co., wAsnmawN, n. c.

HUMPHRE Y OSULLIVAN, OF IIAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS.

RUBBER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed May 15. 1900. Serial No. 16.786.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUMPHBEY OSULLI- VAN, citizen of the United States, residing at Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Iin rovements in Rubbers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. p

The present invention relates to rubber overshoes.

The object of the present invention is to produce a rubber overshoe which may be easily slipped on a shoe of corresponding size, but which will be securely held thereon irrespective of the style of the shoe, and of slight variations in the size thereof.

. It has been previously proposed to provide rubber overshoes with means for securing them to the shoe of the wearer, and for this purpose ridges or knobs of rubber or other flexible material have been secured to the inside of the heel portion of the overshoe. All such devices, however, have been unsatisfactory because the gripping devices depended for their successful operation upon the pressure with which they were forced against the shoe of the wearer, consequently the overshoe must be made to fit tightly upon the shoe, which caused discomfort to the wearer and made the overshoe difhcult to put on, and also made it necessary that the shoes upon which suchovershoes were used should be of exactly the proper size. In the present invention these difiiculties have been overcome by using a flexible lip of peculiar form which will be described in connection with the illustrated embodiment thereof.

The present invention consists in the improved rubber overshoe herein shown and described.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rubber overshoe, of which the heel portion is shown in section; Fig. 2 shows the mode of operation of the overshoe and its adaptability to various styles of shoes.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, 1 is a rubber overshoe provided with a recessed heel 2. Secured to the inside of the breast of the heel in any suitable manner is a gripping device 3, of rubber, provided with projecting strips 4 to engage the breast of the heel of the shoe as shown in Fig. 2. These strips are of substantially equal thickness from base to edge and are of a width considerably greater than their thickness. Owing to their form they may be easily bent downward by the heel of the shoe, as shown in Fig. 2, and the bending will occur chiefly near the base of the projections. No great pressure will normally be exerted by these projections against the heel of the shoe, but upon any tendency of the shoe to be withdrawn from the rubber, the pressure will be greatly increased owing to the fact that the edges of the projections will adhere'to the breast of the heel, so that in order to with draw the heel fron the rubber, these projections, being downwardly inclined, must be further bent and compressed. Thus, the pressure of the projections upon the heel of the shoe will be proportionate to the force tending to withdraw the heel.

A rubber overshoe constructed according to this invention will fit loosely and comfortably upon the shoe of the wearer without noticeable tension upon the heel thereof, but will strongly resist the tendency of the shoe to withdraw from the overshoe such as is likely to occur when the wearer is walking on a muddy road.

The form of projections used in this invention is greatly superior to projections of which the base is considerably thicker than the extremity, and its mode of operation is different, owing to the fact that projections of the latter kind cannot bend downwards to any substantial degree, and, therefore, their pressure must be substantially normal to the surface against which they are pressed, and their adhesion will not be increased by the tendency of the shoe to withdraw from the overshoe. the present invention are much lighter and less expensive than those of the form mentioned.

Having now described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States A rubber overshoe having one or more interior solid rubber projections from the breast of the heel portion, the said projections being substantially equal in thickness from Moreover the projections of base to edge, and of Width greater than their In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, thifiyknessi1 s30 as tg behbekrllt downfivalid prineiin presence of two witnesses. pa yatte ase yte eeotes oeu on which the overshoe is used, and to re ist HUMPHREY SULLIVAN 5 withdrawal ofthe heel by a downward thrust Witnesses:

increasing as the force exerted by the heel is HORACE VAN EVEREN, increased, substantially as described. ALFRED H. HILDRETH. 

